What's This Album About?

Singer/songwriters have a deep love of words, but most album reviews give lyrics a light treatment. Host Bobby Waller dives deep into the lyrics of today’s best songwriters to find their meanings, messages, humor, and humanity.

Singer/songwriters have a deep love of words, but most album reviews give lyrics a light treatment. Host Bobby Waller dives deep into the lyrics of today’s best songwriters to find their meanings, messages, humor, and humanity.

Singer/songwriters have a deep love of words, but most album reviews give lyrics a light treatment. Host Bobby Waller dives deep into the lyrics of today’s best songwriters to find their meanings, messages, humor, and humanity.

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Singer/songwriters have a deep love of words, but most album reviews give lyrics a light treatment. Host Bobby Waller dives deep into the lyrics of today’s best songwriters to find their meanings, messages, humor, and humanity.

Episodes

Master Brandi: Zen and the Art of Forgiveness How much is Brandi Carlile’s new album about forgiveness? And how much is it about something bigger?
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Forty years ago this week, Kate Bush released the album that would make her the first woman in UK history to chart with a song she herself had written. But what made this hugely influential album so different than the standard pop fare of the day?
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What happens when the troubling zeitgeist of our time catches up with the world’s most beloved fun-time band.
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Jeff Rosenstock takes an inward look at politics in what some critics are calling the first great album of 2018.
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In 2016, three musical legends hammered out their final albums in the face of death, but only one of them stayed focused on a brighter future.
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Fifty years ago, Leonard Cohen shocked the world by mixing the language of sex with the language of religion. But was he the first person ever to do that?
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Bobby Waller explores the philosophical underpinnings of U2’s Songs of Experience. This album brings the theological themes of 18th century romantic poet William Blake into full focus within the context of recent political events and lead singer Bono’s brushes with death.
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Almost every reviewer makes a big deal out of how Julien Baker identifies herself as
queer and Christian. But is Turn Out the Lights a queer Christian album?
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Annie Clark says that the thesis for her new album as St. Vincent is “I can’t turn off what turns me on.” But what does that mean?
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A strange comment on his US work visa application led British avant-garde artist Benjamin Clementine to create one of 2017’s most compelling–and unusual–concept albums.
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In a society that glorifies romanic love, being alone is seen as failure. But for Moses Sumney, solitude is a pathway to authenticity.
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Full Transcript
Rejecting Romance:
Finding freedom in solitude
Album Review: Aromanticism by Moses Sumney
Hi, everyone. I’m Bobby Waller. When I’m looking for an album to analyze on What’s This Album About?, I have a few criteria in mind. It’s got to be new, and it’s got to have well-crafted words—preferably with a consistent message or...

Open Mike Eagle explores what it means to come from a place “that should never have existed” and doesn’t anymore.—-more—-
Full Transcript
Home is Complex
Album Review:
Brick Body Kids Still Daydream by Open Mike Eagle
Welcome to What’s This Album About?, the podcast that dives deep into the lyrics of today’s best songwriters. I’m Bobby Waller, and this episode is dedicated to Open Mike Eagle’s new album, Brick Body Kids Still Daydream.
Brick Body Kids St [...]

The cover art on Brand New’s album Science Fiction depicts two teenage girls who have jumped off the railing of a second-floor balcony, presumably to escape their parents control for a night out on the town. Arms spread, they are frozen in the air, just about to hit the ground. Will they land safely or will it hurt? The picture nicely reflects the theme of this album: when we make a leap into the darkness, we don’t really know if the result will be transcendence or disaster. Join host...

Can Disney darling Randy Newman return to his dark roots? Dark Matter is the work of a decidedly post-Disney Newman—a man who would sooner lead us to compassion than shock but who, like the pre-Disney Newman, still points out how this world is riddled with some pretty dark matters and how, sometimes, the best way to face the absurdity of it all, is with humor.
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⬇ Full Transcript
Can Disney Darling Randy Newman Return to His Dark Roots?
Podcast transcript • Album Review: Dark...

Would life be better if we could have everything now? Canadian alt-rock superstars Arcade Fire explore the connection between getting more and having less in this album full of paradoxes. Join host Bobby Waller as he looks at the five most delicious paradoxes in Arcade Fire’s “Everything Now.”
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The 5 Delicious Paradoxes in Everything Now
Podcast transcript • Album Review: Everything Now by Arcade Fire
Hi, everybody. Welcome to

Can the Child Prodigy Behind 2013’s “Royals” Survive the Transition to Early Adulthood? At age 16, Lorde charmed the pop world with her runaway hit single “Royals,” a song about the malaise of suburban teen life. But what happens when the poet laureate of suburban teen pop is no longer a teen–and no longer trapped in the suburbs?
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Growing Up Lorde: Giving the green light to both hedonism and humility
Podcast transcript • Album Review: Melodrama by Lorde

Colter Wall’s songs embrace the time-honored country ethic of sticking almost proudly to your self-destructive ways - despite the deleterious effects they’ve had on your life. These themes, and Wall’s skilled songwriting, are evident in this album’s five great country choruses.—-more—-
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22 Going on 72: The age-old wisdom of alt-country’s hottest young songwriter
5 Great Country Choruses by Colter Wall
Podcast transcript • Album Review: Colter Wall (Self-Titled Debut...

What did choking on a piece of watermelon candy in a JCPenny store teach Father John Misty about life? A lot, apparently. Join host Bobby Waller and dive deep into this lyrically rich album by singer/songwriter Josh Tillman to learn what it can teach us about the human condition.
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What Can Choking on a Piece of Candy Teach Us About Life?
The 5 Best Moments of Pure Comedy
Podcast transcript • Album Review: Pure Comedy by Father John Misty

Time shapes life in its own immutable way. And spiritual growth, Valerie June tells us, is commensurate with our ability to understand how time works. Time gives us hard work and heartache. But it also gives us opportunities—to speak the right words, to the do the right things, and to strengthen our bonds with the people we love.
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What’s Time Got To Do With It?
Podcast transcript • Album Review: The Order of Time by Valerie June

Puerto Rican-American singer Alynda Lee Segarra begins The Navigator the way she began her career–by honoring black and white American roots music. But then, something interesting happens in the middle of Track 5. Dive deep with host Bobby Waller to find out why this album changes midstream.
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⬇ Full Transcript
A Sudden Shift:
One Woman’s Rediscovery of her Puerto Rican Roots
Podcast transcript • Album Review: The Navigator from Hurray for the Riff Raff
Hi, everybody. I’m...

Duration:00:11:36

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